He couldn’t lose this fight.
Chapter Four
Zhuang heard the fighting before he even reached the cave. His heart pounded painfully in his chest as he forced himself to go slow when he really wanted to race in and save his mate. Finding Xias in a battle for his life was close to snapping whatever control he had.
He silently leapt at the man guarding the entrance to the cave. He took him out with one swipe of his deadly claws. The next one took two swipes of his claws. That left him with the man Xias was fighting, and the one trying to edge his way closer to the cubs.
Zhuang went for that one, knowing Xias would want him to protect the cubs first. He could smell the alpha in him and knew this was the man Xias was so terrified of. Zhuang didn’t let out a roar until he was already sailing through the air. The alpha turned just as Zhuang slammed into him. His surprise gave Zhuang enough time to get in one good bite before the alpha started fighting back.
It was a fierce fight. Zhuang’s loud roars came in part from his anger and rage, but also from the pain inflicted upon him by the man he was fighting. He was fighting an alpha after all. The man was strong, maybe even as strong as Zhuang.
He just wasn’t as pissed off as Zhuang.
When the man stumbled back, Zhuang lunged at him and sank his teeth into the guy’s arm. There was a very satisfying crunch right before the man cried out. As soon as Zhuang let go, the alpha spun and took off running out of the cave. Zhuang knew he would need to shift and rest for at least a few hours before his injuries healed.
That just might be enough time.
Zhuang shot the cubs a quick glance to make sure they were still hidden, then turned and headed for Xias and the man he was fighting. He was a little surprised the guy was still in human form. That didn’t make sense. They were shifters. They were stronger and quicker in their shifted forms. That wasn’t to say they were useless in human form, just not as deadly.
As soon as he reached the guy, Zhuang jumped him, taking him down to the hard rock floor. Five seconds later he was crawling off the man’s dead body and trying to get the taste of blood out of his mouth. That was one thing about being a shifter he didn’t like. Ripping out the man’s throat was justice for what he was doing, but the aftertaste was just nasty.
“Quickly, Xias,”Zhuang sent through their mate link. “Get the cubs moving. We need to get out of here and put as much space between your former alpha and us as we can.”
Xias raced to the far side of the room and began herding the three small cubs toward the mouth of the cave. Zhuang leaned down and got a good sniff of the dead man on the floor, then walked to the doorway and did the same to the other two men. They were all dead, but he still wanted their scents. If anyone who smelled like them came around, Zhuang would know.
“All right, let’s go,”Zhuang instructed. “We need to move fast, but quietly.”
Xias nodded and started nudging the cubs down the small outcropping of rocks. Zhuang jumped down the rocks to get ahead of them. He kept a close eye on their surroundings as he waited for his mate and cubs to join him.
He didn’t for a second believe Xias’s former alpha wasn’t coming after them. Not only was the man pissed off because he’d been beaten, he’d lost any chance he had at getting to Xias and the cubs. He’d be coming for revenge. Zhuang wanted to get his mate to his father, where he’d be safe, before that happened.
The snow had slowed to the occasional flake, but that didn’t make their trek through the woods any easier. What snow had fallen during the blizzard had created thick snowbanks that were almost impossible for the three small cubs to traverse.
Zhuang scouted ahead of Xias and the cubs, then moved back to make sure they weren’t being followed. The sky didn’t clear, but it did lighten, making it easier for them to see where they were headed, and all that was in front of them were more trees and snow.
“How far is the council?”Xias asked.
“About three days west of here.”
He could hear Xias gasp through their link. “The cubs will never make it.”
“It’s okay, Xias. There’s a ranger’s cabin a couple of hours ahead of us. We can rest there for the night.”
They could only stop for a few hours, but hopefully it would be enough for the cubs to feed and for everyone to get some rest. If they starved to death or dropped dead from exhaustion, their dangerous race through the forest would be for nothing.
Stopping any longer than a few hours, though, would give Xias’s former alpha time to catch up to them. Zhuang had no doubt that the second the man was healed, he’d be after them, and he’d be bringing an army with him.
Zhuang stilled when he heard something moving through the trees in front of them. The soft crackle of frozen snow breaking was unmistakable.
“Xias, stop.”
Zhuang lifted his nose and sniffed. The air was cold, which wasn’t a surprise. The aftermath of a blizzard always had a cold feel to it. It also had a crisp scent to it. Zhuang had tried to explain that to a human once. They didn’t get it. Shifters did.
When a deer darted out from the bushes and ran off to his left, Zhuang breathed a sigh of relief. While a deer wasn’t that much of a threat to a cat shifter, he needed to remember that there were more dangers in the woods than just Xias’s former alpha.
Zhuang glanced over his shoulder, meeting Xias’s worried eyes. “Come on, it was just a deer.”
Xias nudged the cubs with his nose and got them moving. Zhuang waited until they reached him before he started walking again. “How are they doing?” he asked as he stared down at the cubs.
